Award winners in theory, repeaters in practice

Environmental protection is a concern for a large majority of the citizens of this country. There is confirmation of this: 88% of Romanians believe that climate change has an impact on their daily lives (11 points more than the European average of 77%), according to an EIB survey, and according to a Eurobarometer during the pandemic, 90% say that environmental protection is important to them.

Theoretically, we are doing very well. Practically, the level was seen on the last New Year's Eve. Immediately after we entered the year 2025, the capital fell under the assault of a wave of smoke caused by firecrackers and fireworks released into the air with an unbridled generosity by citizens who, in surveys, are body and soul with the environment. The situation was no worse in other large cities, with few exceptions. For people, the air was unbreathable, for animals, hell broke loose. Birds, dogs, cats and other innocent creatures have felt, once again, the distance between words and deeds when it comes to people.

The situation is not new, we have been facing it for years, associations dealing with the protection of animals, children, the environment have informed, requested, protested, but decision-makers are not concerned with the subject itself but only with surveys that show how concerned we are.

The Declic community launched a petition related to the ban on firecrackers, signed by over 122,000 people: "We, the signatories of this petition, ask the Romanian Government and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to completely ban the sale and use of firecrackers and fireworks by individuals. It is not normal that, every year, we helplessly witness tragedies that can be prevented: hospitals full of wounded, mutilated children, terrified animals and streets suffocated by noise, smoke and garbage." The reactions of the authorities are absolutely "faint", it is clear that nothing will be done. Otherwise, it remains as we have established, they are very concerned about the fate of the animals at the North Pole and the creatures of the Pacific, but we do nothing for those near us.